Why Your Brand Needs To Be Live Streaming Video

You already know how important video marketing is as a part of your digital strategy, and that’s not changing anytime soon. But there is a new reason to take notice—and it’s live streaming. While live streaming isn’t a wholly new concept (Periscope, acquired by Twitter, launched in early 2015), Facebook has quickly come to dominate the space. In the first year of Facebook Live, the daily watch time for Live broadcasts has increased almost four-fold, and Live now makes up more than 20 percent of all video on Facebook. Live video is watchedthree times longer than pre-recorded video across Facebook as a whole.

The bottom line is thatlive video is more appealing to brand audiences: Studies show that 80 percent would rather watch live video than read a blog and 82 percent prefer live video to social posts from a brand. So why exactly is live streaming the future of video marketing? And how can you leverage this growth for your own brand?

More Eyes on Your Content

Mastering Facebook’s algorithm is critical to increasing your brand’s visibility as well as yoursocial ROI. Since Facebook has been aggressively spending billions to promote Live, they are also giving it preferential treatment in user’s newsfeeds. And they have good reason to.

According to Tubular Insights, viewers spend eight times longer with live video than on-demand. While on-demand averages just 5.1 minutes, live video content averages 42.8 minutes. As a brand competing for eyeballs in the newsfeed, these numbers speak for themselves.

Though much of this difference can be explained through the nature of video that lends itself well to live content—such as sporting events and breaking news—you can leverage live video for your B2B or B2C brand as well.

Consumers Love Transparency

There is a draw to live streaming that can significantly increase the trustworthiness of your brand: going behind the scenes. Now more than ever, consumers want to know everything there is to know about a brand. They care as much about the story, the people and the mission as they do about the product. Utilizing live video to give followers a peek into the daily life of your company can encourage trust and make your customers feel like they are a part of your business.

Build Community with Live Streaming

It should go without saying that in the world of social media, creating active communities is one of the most valuable investments a brand can make. In the case of Facebook and Periscope, users and the broadcaster see comments in real time. Users comment on Facebook Live Videos at10x the rate of regular videos. If driving community and engagement is important to your brand, then live video is currently an unmatched asset in your strategy.

Build Your Content Library

While live streamed videos are watched for longer, there is no reason your finished stream can’t become a valuable piece of content on your website later. ‘How It’s Made’ videos, product demos, Q&As, and instructional videos should all be a part of your arsenal. Live streaming can be inexpensive to produce and help you to build out the content base on your site while simultaneously growing your community when you’re live.

Before you dump all your production budget into live video, do keep in mind that thoughtful, well-made video content with high production value andstrong storytelling isn't going anywhere. However, live streaming offers an alternative set of advantages to traditional video production. Their ability to build community, increase watch-time, and drive brand loyalty—all while keeping production costs at a minimum—means your brand can’t afford to ignore the biggest shift in the video marketing space today.

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UNION is a digital marketing agency founded in 2002 and headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Considered a digital marketing leader, UNION collaborates with many of the Southeast region's top brands to achieve business objectives through strategy, creative and technology. The agency specializes in crafting digital marketing platforms, content and campaigns that deliver meaningful and measurable ROI results. Want to work with us?

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